I bought my 16 GB Verizon Pre 3 for $99.99, it was stuck at the HP boot screen, and I was able to get it working with the forum help. There's a whole thread about Pre 3 activation issues, they all seem fixable. YMMV

I wonder why he's having activation issues. I'm so tempted at that price.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

He says the Dr was giving him problems and didn't feel like figuring it out. I'll post here when it shows up in a couple days and let you know what happens.
UPDATE: Got one, doctored it to 2.2.4. Works great. No problems activating and signing in. The HP logo fell off after a month. Otherwise perfect and love this phone.